Had the VHF antenna on my boat break (Fiberglass casing broke, exposing the metal wire). I am trying to figure out what to replace it with and the price points for an 8' fiberglass antenna seems to vary immensely from $35 up to $200. Any suggestions on what to stay away from? I am willing to pay for good equipment, but hate to get fleeced when a much lower price item is as good or better than the expensive one.
Stay with the 8' to get good range with th radio. The rest comes down to better connectors that last longer in weather and have less loss next is how rugged the construction is. IMHO I would shoot for he middle.
I had the same thing happen to mine before boating season started this year but it was due to user stupidity. Caught a tree branch coming out of driveway hauling boat back to marina. I agree with previous post, stay with 8' for better range. I bought a Shakespeare, I think its 6db, for $100. I have a 2002 2900 SCR and boat on lake and get really good range away from marina even with all the tree obstructions inside coves. Make sure you secure your old wire to new wire really well so when your "fishing" it through up to helm it doesn't come lose.
Since this is a 24 ft boat, I wouldn't spend outrageous money on a vhf antennae. VHF is 'line of sight', so you're only going to be able to transmit and recieve a limited distance based on the height of hte antennae above the water and the curvature ofthe earth. vessel to land can be further depending on how high the land stations antennae is. Since you won't be mounting it onto of a full bridge or sailboat mast you probably don't need one with a high amount of gain. I'd still stick with an 8 ft antennae.
VHF Antenna
Linear Mode
